For the September edition of Long Wave, Mike Harding talks to Franz Kirmann in his studio in south London. Composer, musician, sound designer and editor, he performs in Piano Interrupted, releases solo records and works as a composer for film and TV.

In the studio, Mike Harding talks to Pasadena-based sound artist Steve Roden, who pioneered the lowercase style of music, where quiet, usually unheard, sounds are amplified to form complex and rich soundscapes.

In the studio with Claire M Singer discussing all things aeolian. Her debut album, Solas, was released in June 2016 and can be previewed on Bandcamp. Tracks played featured Leif Elggren, Bill Thompson and Hazard, as well as Henryk Gorecki.

Lets go back to your childhood… with Mike Harding & Stephanie John live in the studio

The photo of Mike was taken in 1963, when he first heard Puff, the Magic Dragon by Peter, Paul and Mary, at the age of five and a half… He still adamantly refuses to believe that the song is about drugs…

This show covers the years 1963 to 1973, when he was 15…

The photo of Stephanie was taken in 1988, when Kylie’s first album “Kylie” with the single “I Should Be So Lucky” came out… The photo is an attempt to recreate Kylie’s hairstyle from the cover of the album…

Stephanie John is a Sound Artist livng and working in London. She works with field recordings, musical composition and voice to create sound installations and performances which explore sound as a cinematic experience and the resonance of place. Her projects encompass ideas and themes such as the sound of British Industry, the sonic effects of the industrial revolution, mysticism and the sublime and the tension between humans and landscape.

Stephanie’s current project, Steel Cymraeg is running at the Trostre works, Llanelli, Wales until September. Here she shares two hours of sounds that inspire her, around the theme of resonance, landscape and female voice.

1. Stephanie John – Steel Cymraeg (extract), ), from Show16, Royal College of Art, London

Steel Cymraeg is a quadrophonic sound installation composed of recordings made between March and June 2016 at the Trostre steelworks, Llanelli. It follows the tin-plating process, beginning with the arrival of the hot rolled steel from Port Talbot at the PickIe Iine, finishing in the garden of the The Cottage behind the works. The installation takes the form of a sound cinema with a sheet of hot rolled steel in place of the screen. It is an attempt to create an immersive and active Iistening space. The chairs are reclaimed from the CoIiseum theatre in Aberdare, a town 30 miles to the east of Llanelli. Steel Cymraeg converts a political subject into a sensorial experience through the close examination and re-presentation of the sounds of the works.

The piece is made in memory of Meurig John, my grandfather, who worked at Trostre for 12 years.

2. Robin the Fog – Dublab MegaMix

Sound Artist, Radio Producer, Tape Loop Wrangler, member of Howlround
“Hello. My name is Robin The Fog and I am a sound artist and radio producer based in London. My work largely falls under the broad term ‘Radiophonics’ and includes Field recording, radiophonic composition and documentary – it being my belief that the best work for radio encompasses and blurs the boundaries between these things.
Over the past couple of years, my production work has included bespoke sound designs for several BBC Radio 4 dramas, numerous broadcast packages for Radio 4 and BBC World Service, as well as contributions to Radio 3’s Between The Ears, Deutsche Welle, ABC Australia, Monocle, Resonance FM and many more.”

Iain began making electronic music in the 1990s, creating electronic pop with Bow Mods, before co-founding musique concrete composing/performing collective Langham Research Centre in 2003 with colleagues at BBC Radio 3, based in London’s Langham Place. In this interview host Mike Harding discusses his many projects… with thanks to Rob Aitken and Stephanie John

About

After University (Durham, Modern History), worked at ZigZag. He has been running the audio-visual label Touch for 35 years and counting, and in this period has acquired much experience and information on disseminating cultural sounds to a wider audience - see also Touch Radio and Long Wave (see opposite)